Pack your bags, son.

Wayne had never been a deep sleeper, and that startled him more than the large hand shaking him awake. The bat struck out before he was fully awake, though whomever had woken him easily fended off the blows. He looked up at the interloper with narrowed eyes. His Uncle loomed over him with wide red eyes and flaring nostrils.

"Get up." The man's deep voice wasn't placid as was typical, he sounded stressed about something. "Now." To drive the point of necessity home, Bob shook him again before walking out of the room. Wayne watched him go before climbing out of bed and shuffling into the living room.

Zach was awake and making very upset noises, his mother was smoking in the house. The Serpah eyed him as he walked in. "Pack bags for yourself and Zach. We need to leave. Now."

"What...?" Rene shook her head, her lips pressed tightly to one another.

"No questions. Just move." Rene pushed him towards his room and helped him pack. Once basic clothes had been packed she ushered them out. Bob was waiting in the car and he drove them off.

The ride was silent. Zach tried once or twice to figure out what was going on but met only with silence. He crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks in irritation. Bob drove without word for quite some time until they reached their destination. In the middle of nowhere, it seemed.

Auntie Pep and their children were already there. Mikhail and Jean-Paul both looked as upset as Zach did. And there were Pep's children from a previous engagement, Misha and Kurai. And their adopted daughter Spice...

Wayne's eyes narrowed as he took in the family nearby. His mother's siblings that could be found, anyone they were feasibly related to. All gathered here. His lips pressed together and he looked for his Mother.

Rene never had trouble meeting his eyes. She was always honest to him. The seraph looked out at the group and smoked, her eyes obscured by her sunglasses. "You're a smart boy, Wayne." She rhasped. The young man shook his head.

"Why? What're we all doing here? All the family gathered up..."

"No one can be bait if we're all together." Rene told him. Wayne watched his sweet tempered Aunt try to calm her husband. Bob pulled from her gentle grasp and paced around. "And trust me, people love to use bait against us."

A silver magic portal opened and a man stepped out. He strode up to bob and spoke to him in a rapid language. Bob continued to look grim as he nodded. The stranger had a similar dark skin tone to Wayne's uncle, but the man's hair was silver and his eyes green. A pair of delicate dragonfly like wings buzzed on his back from time to time.

"That's Uuven. One of your Uncle's old adventuring buddies." Rene lit another cigarette and took a noisy drag off of it. A second person came from the portal, this one a woman. She was tall and athletic, dark skinned and blue haired. She looked overjoyed to see Bob, throwing her arms around him. "And that's yet another reason why our family is ******** up beyond measure."

"...His sister?" Wayne scrunched up his mouth as he observed. Rene hacked and crunched the cigarette under her boot.

"Clone. She's equal parts little sister, equal parts daughter. It's creepy as ********, and I hate being around Donmia. She's also ******** his best friend, so let that mental image just seep in and settle. How creepy is that? s**t. She's looking this way. She's going to come over here and I'm going to have to be polite because I love hi- Hiiiii, Mia." Rene's typically gruff mannerisms melted into something a bit more humane as the woman strode over to them. Donmia threw her arms around the Seraph and hugged her tightly.

"It is so good to see you! You have grown much!" Donmia had a sweet innocent voice and rather enunciated pronunciation. Her eyes turned to Wayne and grew round. A hand came up to cover her gaping mouth. "Oh, my...."

"My son. Wayne." Rene nodded. Donmia fanned herself and looked faint.

"Such wicked looks..." Wayne scowled as Uuven gently led her away. The silver haired fae looked at him for a long moment before proclaiming there was use for him.

"What does he mean, a use for me?" Wayne looked to Rene, scowling. Rene scowled right the hell back.

"You're not going to like this."

And when she explained what was going on, Wayne didn't like it one bit.